Pokemon - Solo's Strange Journey

Swole-POV:

It's still dark. I feel wet, drenched and hot. Yuck. I've been sweating the whole night. My blanket is way too warm and heavy. And it smells like in a brewery.

I open my eyes and immediately see what the issue is. Lopunny broke out of her pokeball and put herself between the blanket and myself. She's too warm. She has wrapped her ears around my head and smothered me the entire night. Her head lies snuggled against my neck... She really does have boobs.

The feeling is unmistakable. It's the same when I hug Zoey. A flat chest, but it's not nonexistent. A little bigger than my pectoral muscles, just softer.

She stirred awake. I felt it... down there. Her head turns and moves against my neck. The first thing she does after waking up is to nibble at my ear.

"Good morning." I whisper as quietly as I can. Apparently it was still too loud. Riolu and Salandit woke up and move on the right side of my body.

Looking to my left, I see Dawn and Zoey cuddling each other with my arm stuck between them. 

Dawn's hair is a disheveled mess. Words cannot describe how messy it became over night. Like some kind of cosmic abomination growing on her head rather than hair.

As for Zoey, her good arm seems to be stuck under Dawn. She moves her stumpy arm as if trying to scratch something with her missing hand.

Her eyes flutter open.

She sees me looking at her, looks down at her stump, then at Dawn, then at the spot that seems to be itching. A frustrated frown wrinkles the space between her brows.

"Can you scratch me?" She whispers.

"With pleasure."

I maneuver my free arm around Lopunny - I ignore the feeling of her furry butt against my fingers as much as I can. A small, but growing, part of my body doesn't care about my human preferences and still reacts.

My hand sneaks past Dawn and finally reaches Zoey. "There?"

"A bit higher... The other 'higher'... Now yer just groping my ass without an excuse."

After a few more gropes, I relent and scratch the itch at her waist.

At that moment, the person under the monstrous hair stirs awake. She begins by yawning loudly, then tries to roll over to her left - without success. Another attempt, but to her right instead - equally little success.

"I'm stuck." Dawn whines.

"Good morning." Now that everyone is more or less awake, I don't have to whisper anymore.

Something is teasing me at the tip of my... mind.

What was it? Something relatively important. Something that was discussed before I started drinking with Mr Gump.

...

Aha! My new job! "Girls, as much as I want to stay like that, I kinda need to get ready for my new job."

Dawn nods. "And we need to train more, Zoey! The contest is tomorrow."

"Wait, what new job?" Zoey blocks Dawn from escaping. Lopunny takes it as the permission to successfully do the same with me. She's a lot stronger than me again and easily keeps me locked in place.

"The mines need someone to clear out Diglett and Dugtrio. The pay is amazing. With just 15 captures, I can make up to 20.000₽!"

Zoey whistles. "That's a lotta money. Tax free?"

"Yep. You know it, baby." Trainers don't pay taxes. We take care of society in other ways. "I imagine they lose a lot more than that chump change while they can't work. They still need to pay wages, and the rest of the industry needs them to provide coal. I can't even begin to imagine how much money they would lose if the mines had to close forever because of a Diglett infestation."

"In that case, ya could ask for even more money. I bet they would pay it."

"I bet too, but it's probably better for my reputation if I don't do that. Maybe they wouldn't hire me again when they don't need me as urgently."

This brings her to yet another halt, to think about the economics behind my decision. Dawn struggles a bit to get out, causing Zoey to pinch her to calm her down again.

"I see. Ye're right. Come on, Dawn. Let's go make our hard workin' boyfriend some breakfast."

"What? Why?" She asks.

Zoey moves her head closer for a whisper. "Because, pst pst pst..."

"I'm not an idiot."

"Yes, you are. Now listen, pst pst pst."

"Ah, yes. I see. That's pretty smart." Dawn relents before the girls crawl out of bed, get dressed, and leave.

All the while, Lopunny wouldn't let me get up.

Every time I tried to move even a little, she made sure that all my limbs would stay right below her. 

I might be able to slip out if I struggled a lot. But that's not worth it.

It's simply too nice to just cuddle with my pokemon.

But I need to get dressed. Because the sooner I can pick up the job and supplies, the more Diglett will still be there, and the more profit I can make.

"Can I take a shower, at least?"

She hums. ~"Nnno."

I need to get out of my suit. It is wrinkled. And it can only get worse with Lopunny actively rubbing herself against me.

Whose bright idea was it to sleep in my clothes?

I begin my struggle to leave her hold and leave the bed.

The only thing I manage to wrestle off was the blanket. Lopunny grabbed my wrists and pinned my ankles in place with her own legs. Her ears fall down on both sides of my face. A mischievous smile grows on her face when she watches my futile efforts.

It's impossible to move.

I- I'm really stuck. "Come on, we need to get going."

She licks her lips, like a predator who's about to eat her prey.

~"Kiss me first. Then I will let you go."

I roll my eyes. She gives me just enough slack so I can give her forehead a kiss.

~"Hmmnope." She hums. ~"A real one."

I can't stop my eyes from glancing at her lips. 

Her lips aren't human. Her face is covered in fur. On any level of inspection, it's just impossible to mistake her for one, even if the general shape of her body looks like that of a woman.

"A real kiss, huh?" A grin spreads on my own face while hers grows wider too. She nods her head.

Her ears jitter excitedly with her movements, and I choose that moment to bite one.

"Heh. Was that what you wanted?"

But instead of a pained face, or at least a pout, all I see is her smile growing even wider. A bit scarier too.

~"I will take it."

She accepts the status quo and loosens her grip on my wrists.

It looks like she's taking what she can get. Whew! I am off the hook. It would be really weird to give my pokemon a real kiss, after all.

I mean, who does that?

Anyway, I move--

Suddenly, she pins me down again. This time, her furry hands fixate my face in place. She slams her head into my face. Her puckered lips press against mine.

I feel her weight against me. She pushes so hard against me. The fur texture against my lips feels weird. The tongue trying to break through my lips feels normal though.

I see her eyes peering into mine. A mix of mischief, anger, and happiness sparkles in her large, purple orbs.

Then, just as quickly as she has moved in, she moves back again to straddle me instead.

She rubs her arm along her ears like a girl would comb her hand through her hair to fix it.

~"Now you can go. Was it so hard?"

She wiggles a little.

~"Maybe it was."

She stops straddling me and leaves the bed. Just a moment later, the door opens. Dawn and Zoey come back inside.

"You're still in bed?" Dawn says as an annoyed wrinkle appears on her forehead. "Urgh. Come on, you smelly man. Breakfast is ready."

I smell really bad. Fermented nervous sweat from the gym battle, mixed with the alcohol vapors from the celebrations.

"Can I take a shower first?"

The girls ignore my pleas and place food, cutlery, and drinks on the hotel room's table. Some of it looks like they modified it. Either that, or the buffet at the hotel has some kind of love-themed event.

The veggies are cut into heart and flower shapes. Even the fried eggs look like hearts. Or breasts. And the two yolks are oversized nipples. Heh.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I just appreciate what you girls did, Dawn. It's very cute. Thank you."

I take a seat. The girls beam in pride while putting down their chairs beside mine. One on each side.

But then Lopunny picks up Dawn's chair, with Dawn still on it, and slides it away. "Hey! What the hell!?" Just far enough away to put her own chair in the free space.

Zoey laughs as Dawn gets up and prepares to fight for her spot.

But Lopunny is much taller and much more intimidating now. All she needs to do is look at Dawn in her usual threatening manner to make her stop complaining.

"Did--..." Dawn stutters in shock. The fright has stolen her voice. It must be scary to be on the receiving end of Lopunny's mean looks. "Did she just stick her tongue out at me?!"

Huh? So it wasn't her threatening look after all?

Zoey laughs even more. "Dawn, yer not jealous of a pokemon now, are ya?"

"No! I'm not! But she's teasing me!"

"Lopunny?" She turns to me before giving me a slight head tilt. The kind that says, 'I have no idea what you want from me right now.'

"Were you teasing Dawn?"

She shakes her head. Her ear knocks over a mug, which, luckily, is still empty.

She is definitely lying. "Good grief. That's what I was afraid of. She became more sassy." And bold! But I don't want to receive questions that I don't want to answer, so I don't say that part out loud.

"Stop teasing Dawn. Start eating instead. Nurse Joy said, you need to eat to regain your energy."

"Lo!" She agrees, but the first thing she does is reach for her cutlery before fumbling it.

Her paws have become hands. It takes her a moment to figure out how to use them. But once she does, her previous training shines through, and my mom would be proud of her ability to eat like a proper lady.

Lady...

I should avoid those comparisons. She's a pokemon. I'm her trainer. Just because we don't have a language barrier anymore, and she looks a little more like a human... And she definitely has breasts, ass and incredible-looking thighs--

"Swole?"

"Ah! ... Ahem, I mean, 'ah, yes?'."

"Ya were zoned out. Want a strawberry?"

Zoey holds out half of a strawberry, which has been cut into the shape of a flower.

"Sure."

"Ah, ah, ah. That's not the way." I tried grabbing it, but she pulled it away at the last moment.

Now she holds the strawberry closer to my mouth. "Say, ahhh."

I stay completely calm and collected. "Ahhh." She puts it in my mouth.

After what Lopunny put me through, this is nothing.

I notice Zoey hasn't eaten anything yet. With just one arm, I imagine it's a little difficult to do. So I quickly assemble a sandwich for her and hold it out for her to take a bite.

She blushes immediately and tries to grab it with her remaining hand. "Ah, ah, ah. That's not the way. You know what to say."

"... Jerk." She says but keeps her mouth open until she takes a bite from her sandwich.

"I am so jealous." I can hear Dawn's mumbling clearly as she pokes around her food with a fork.

~"Master. Say ahhh."

Out of nowhere, a fork filled with an entire, hard-boiled egg stuck to it enters my mouth. Zoey laughs while I struggle to swallow the food lodged in my throat.

Despite my discomfort, Lopunny beams. Her face radiates happiness, so I can't find it in myself to get mad at her.

"So. So very jealous."

The meal continues for a while. I make sure Lopunny gets more than enough calories, and then finally find the time to take my much-needed shower.

When I exit the bathroom, the girls are already putting on their shoes.

"Wait one second."

They wait a second.

"One second is over." And Dawn continues to tie her boots.

"Ha. Ha. Funny. Actually, I wanted to give the both of you some spending money while I'm gone. The more pokemon I capture, the more money I get. So I might be in the mines for a few days to capture as many as I can."

They don't say anything. Just stare at me in a creepy way.

Because I will be gone?

Or it might have been too chauvinistic. Giving them money... But they don't say anything while I give them each 500₽ either.

After a few moments of silence, and after I got dressed and moved to the door to leave, Dawn is the first to say something. "I think I'm supposed to say that I make my own money and don't need this..."

She trails off, and Zoey talks next.

"My boyfriend works in the mines and makes tons of money... My sisters are gonna be sooo jealous."

I exit the room after letting out a laugh.

I don't hear Dawn say, "That was really hot." Or Zoey's reply, "Mhm."

---

I was the first in the pokemon center and the first to pick up the job. 

Nurse Joy was surprised about my timing, since she apparently put the posting up just a few minutes before I walked in. After receiving the 8000₽ sign-up bonus, I went on a shopping spree.

Potions, berries, a revive, and 15 standard pokeballs. Only 15 for now, because I can just return at any time to restock, but the pokeballs are the most expensive investment. 

In the end, I used up the whole sign-up bonus. Everything relies on me being able to capture as many Diglett as I can.

It sure would suck if some cosmic garbage got in the way and destroyed my plans.

Anyway, I'm sure that's not going to happen. After all, it wouldn't be very subversive if it did happen.

And with Lopunny by my side, nothing could be thrust into our way that would be an issue!

It's just a pest control mission. Diglett and Dugtrio won't be stronger than Onix. We are suuuper safe.

... Good grief. It's going to happen again, won't it? The pokemon will be from the wilderness and they will be much stronger than expected.

This mission will not be a simple pest control mission at all. I can feel it in my bones.

But it's so much money. 

I'm just going to be a lot more careful. Which should really be my default mode for any mission I take. Last time I went on a safe mission, it was filled with a family of hungry, bloodthirsty Ariados and Spinarak.

And just like back then, we will need to defeat some kind of super-hard boss enemy to reap the rewards for the mission. Easy.

Easy-peasy.

Especially with Lopunny as my personal guardian pokemon.

"How are you doing?" I ask her as she walks beside me.

She finally has to walk on her own. Still, my shoulders are both occupied.

Salandit took up the vacant 'good shoulder', which is what they call it. Riolu moved up from the crook of my arm to the 'bad' shoulder.

Honestly, I think both of my shoulders are great... I will have to check if my muscles are growing asymmetrically at some point.

Anyway, Lopunny walks really, really close to me. And she is pouting. ~"Are you sure I can't ride on your shoulders?"

"Yes. Absolutely certain. It doesn't work."

I'm not completely overloaded with pokemon anymore and that's a good thing.

We've entered the industrial zone at some point. Massive conveyor belts stretch along the area, stacked with massive heaps of coal. They lead off in different directions, probably to processing facilities or unloading stations. But nothing moves. 

A couple small buildings stand nearby. Administrative buildings and break rooms, I guess. Their lights are all out. It's like a ghost town.

Everything has been deactivated for the time being.

One building's door opens the moment I pass it.

The head of a Charizard peeks through the door and stares at me. Lopunny immediately gets in the way, ready to defend me.

... This Charizard... I think I saw her before...

"Charice? What is it?" That was Solana's voice! So it must be her Charizard.

"Char." Charice says, and Lopunny relaxes again.

A few moments later, Solana's head appears below Charizard's, poking out of the doorway. "Swole! You're here for the job, right? Come on in!"

"Hey, Solana. What's up? And what for?"

"... You're right! We can walk and talk. Time is of the essence, and all that! The boss said so, at least." She leaves the building and we walk closer to the massive hole in the ground. "You know the gist of the mission? Capture Diglett, deliver them to me, or Saturn of Team Galactic in the evenings."

"Saturn?" The name doesn't ring a bell.

"Yes. You can't miss him. He has blue hair, looks a little evil, has a calm, calculative personality. I don't know his real name. The higher-ups at Team Galactic are all rather private about that sort of stuff."

"Looks evil? What do you mean by that?"

"You know... Evil eyes and an evil hairstyle. He walks in an evil way too."

Oh, so like my dad, I guess.

"Anyway." We approach the entrance of the mines together. All conveyor belts move out from deep inside. "Here, take this." 

She hands me a clunky flashlight. A very large device.

"Parts of the mine have lost their electricity because the Diglett chewed through all the cables. Annoying little pests."

"Heh. Is that something a pokemon ranger should say?"

She laughs out loud. "Haha! No, it's not. They are precious little creatures, but sometimes they really act like pests. It's not their fault, though. They just act the way nature made them."

I glance to my side, where Lopunny clings to me a little too closely. Her hand constantly brushes against mine all the time. 

The way nature made her... Bold and sassy.

It's not her fault.

And it's not so bad anyway. She is being cute, cuddly, affectionate. It's what I've always wanted her to act like. Only now she's too! ... Sexy. Something is wrong with me. Good grief.

Or maybe I'm normal and society isn't. Akari did say that pokemon and humans used to marry each other a long time ago...

A curious sign on a random cave tunnel catches my attention. It's made from simple paper and has a blue X drawn on it with sharpie. The tunnel itself contains a rusted set of mining rails that end next to a conveyor belt.

"The upper tunnels are all ancient. Nobody has used them in a long time because the iron ore here has been excavated already. The coal is deeper." Solana informs me with a piece of random trivia, and I point my finger at the sign. "I put up the sign. The blue X means I cleared it already. This tunnel only needs patrols to make sure no Diglett have reappeared."

Then she stops and fidgets with her pokeball, causing me to stop as well. "And the signs with a red X are dangerous. Really dangerous. I believe this is a mixed horde of pokemon. Some are from the wilderness, others are not. They have their own hierarchies down here and don't mix their territories. But you still need to be careful everywhere. They could migrate, and the signs might not be accurate anymore."

Her face takes on the usual happy-go-lucky grin I am used to. "But I saw your fight! Not live, but I heard people talking about it and watched it on the internet. You're going to be fine down there! Don't worry!"

"I wasn't worried."

I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Great! Then neither of us are worried!" Her voice echoes up and down the tunnels. She wipes a few beads of sweat from her forehead.

"But now I am. Why were you acting so uncomfortable? Are you hiding something else?"

She pulls at her collar. "Whaaat? Haha, no way! I'm not hiding anything! Haha, you're funny!"

I'm not buying it. So I keep looking at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Urgh. Alright! But don't tell anyone, please!" She waits for me to reply that I won't tell anyone.

After not getting the reply she wanted for a while, she continues speaking with more and more sweat dripping down her face. "Officially, this is just a normal mission... Because getting permissions for wilderness missions takes longer. You need to be able to deal with hordes of pokemon reliably, and most trainers don't fit the bill. But Nurse Joy knows that and doesn't let beginners through! Please don't report this to anyone, or I will get in trouble."

"..."

"I will see if I can get you some benefits if you stay quiet in return."

"Deal." 

Sometimes I manage to surprise myself. 

I might just be the greatest businessman alive. 

I barely had to do anything, and Solana still folded like a wet piece of paper.

---

"What about the green X signs?"

We reached another tunnel. Another sign is in front of it. Underneath the green marking, there are three tally marks. This tunnel is dark, something caused it to lose its electricity. Just after a few meters, everything inside quickly becomes pitch black.

"Oh, right. Green means I checked, and they don't seem to be from the wilderness. But I couldn't clear them out on my own... Plusle and Charizard aren't the best options to fight Diglett in tunnels. And there is one more color code: Black. Do not enter alone. Under any circumstances."

"Alright. So I guess the three dots underneath mean that there are three Diglett inside?"

"Yep!"

"3.000₽... Do you mind if I quickly go clear that tunnel out?"

"... How-- How much!?" She shouts a little too loudly and quiets down again. "I only get paid by the hour!" She's still pretty loud.

"..."

"How about this: I go on scouting runs, collect the captured pokemon from you, do the resupply runs for you, and all it costs is 100₽ per pokemon. Plus the cost of the supplies. Deal?"

That's 10%... But I save a lot of work... I can focus on grinding. "Will you cook for me too?"

She gets lost in thought and bites her thumb's nail as she mumbles to herself. "That's 10%... And I like cooking... Doesn't cost too much time either... Deal!"

We shake hands on it. "In that case, I will go a little deeper down the main tunnel and scout some more. Good luck here!"

"Thanks. You too."

When she walks off, I can't help but look at her butt. Even though she wears warmer, thicker clothes now, it does nothing to hide the great shape of her butt and slim waist.

Trainers are all rather attractive people, I notice. I guess it's because they lead an active lifestyle and have a stronger aura, even if they can't actively use it.

Anyway, "Riolu. You're on guard duty."

~"Yes, sir!" The former aura guardian seems to like her new role.

"Diglett can move underground. They might try to attack me as the weakest target instead of engaging you girls in a direct battle." She nods in understanding. "And you can use Ice Beam from a distance. It will be super effective."

Another nod.

"Salandit and Lopunny. Can I trust you both to work together? I know I promised to let you both fight against each other after the gym battle, but this is time-critical--"

~"Of coursse we can work together! We must, after all!" Salandit says a little hurriedly.

Lopunny folds her arms in front of her chest in an uncannily human manner. 

Arms crossed, chest pushed out, eyebrow raised. ~"Oh? Have you finally given up?"

~"N-no! ... I just need to get sstronger first. And then I can beat you again!"

~"Again?"

~"I could have beaten you two days ago. But today? Have you sseen how huge you became?! So unfair."

~"Hehe. I really have grown. Are you jealous? Huh? Say it, lizard."

She is trying to rile up Salandit. "Heeey, come on now. Let's not bicker anymore."

~"Masster iss right. We shouldn't bicker on a mission." Salandit agrees. A lump travels down her long throat. She's just trying to avoid being beaten up.

And as much as Salandit is a pain in the ass sometimes, I don't want to see her beaten up either. Even if it is for their own benefit as a team, I just don't like the thought of it.

Lopunny steps even closer. Her face is right in front of Salandit and right beside mine. Her chest brushes against my arm. ~"Say. It."

She's starting to become pretty scary.

~"... Yess. I'm jealouss."

~"Great!" She lets up. Not even a hint of a threat remains on her face. ~"Now we can work together as a team."

Well. That's one way to end their feud. Is it possible for pokemon to have two abilities? I'm still not sure if she has Intimidate or not.

I settle their decision in stone, when I approach the dark tunnel. Lopunny hurries up with a few striding hops to keep up. She relaxed too much after her little win over Salandit... It looked so cute. The way she hopped from one leg to the other and her ears bouncing with it.

The light from the main tunnel recedes and I turn on the flashlight. The bulky device floods everything in front of my in a wall of bright light. Incredibly powerful. But suddenly, the little tunnel appears to be a lot deeper than I thought.

It just keeps going and going.

My steps echo as we walk past one bend after another.

There's too much ground to cover.

Until, finally, I see the target.

A trio of Diglett. Not a Dugtrio. One is asleep, the other two eat the electrical wiring that runs along the top of the tunnel. The awake pokemon look at me as they continue eating slowly.

"Lopunny, use Fake Out against the one on the right. Salandit, you take care of the left one. Fight defensively and use Will-O-Wisp after Fake Out. Wait for Lopunny to support you."

The enemy pokemon stopped chewing the cables halfway through my list of orders. The tunnel echoes too much for my quiet voice not to reach them. Once they noticed a fight was about to start, they started trying to wake up their friend.

"Go."

The third Diglett wakes up to the sight of his friends being struck by Lopunny and Salandit. Lopunny hits her target near the low ceiling, falls to the ground, bounces back up again, and follows up with Dizzy Punch.

Salandit smacks her Diglett before simply sticking to the ceiling. Purple flames grow in her maw, they flicker past her teeth, she opens her mouth, and the fiery orbs fly out to burn her target.

"Salandit, drop to the ground! Lopunny, use Jump Kick!"

Diglett is confused. He can't dodge Lopunny's leg.

KO. His eyes turn into swirls. "Support Salandit!"

The other Diglett, with no target nearby, has to slide across the rocky ceiling, along the wall, just to reach the ground. 

But it took him far too much time. Before he could land a counter attack, he takes Lopunny's Double Kick, a follow-up Double Hit, and then he is knocked out as well.

I search for the third and final Diglett but only see a hole in the ground. Diglett used dig. 

Riolu has moved between my legs at some point and remains tense. Waiting for the third enemy to pop up again.

... But nothing happens.

~"She ran away." Riolu notifies me. Her feelers hover in the air. She has reached my level of aura proficiency already - probably surpassed me even - but I still follow up with my own aura sight to verify it. 

All I feel are my pokemon, the knocked-out Diglett, and a couple of personal bonds leading far away.

One escaped. Meaning, I only made a total of 1.800₽ profits. "Good job, team. Lopunny, Salandit, well done. Riolu, you were great as well. Sorry for failing to give you any combat."

~"It's alright. I protected you, and that's what matters."

"Still, I'd rather have you gain some combat experience. But it's honestly too difficult to keep track of three targets at the same time."

I think about how to solve it while tossing out two pokeballs and collecting the captured pokemon.

"We're going to swap guard duty after every battle. To give everyone a break and the opportunity to fight. Salandit, next, it's your turn to guard."

~"Got it."

I shrink the pokeballs and put them in my cargo pants' pockets.

As long as they stay knocked out, they will be safe to carry around. However, once they wake up, they will try to break out for sure.

However, Solana will take care of that risk. I can focus on battling, she will come along and pick up the pokeballs and I'm sure she will be able to deal with any rowdy, rebelling pokemon on her own. Our deal is going to save me so much stress.

We arrive back at the central tunnel. I check the clock on my phone and see that a partial clearing of this tunnel has cost me half an hour in total.

Without having to travel back and forth to the surface, that means this job is going to generate 3.600₽ per hour.

Amazing.

---

...

...

...

It's the second day. I only left the tunnels to tell the girls I'm going to be away for longer and then slept down here after cleaning out another couple of tunnels. 

Today is their pokemon contest. Another dual performance.

It would take me an hour to get out of the mines, an hour to watch, and another hour to get back.

It was a difficult decision. 12.000₽ - Or taking a break and surprising the girls.

After trading used and new pokeballs with Solana for a few times, the decision was made for me. Sadly, I won't be able to watch their fight.

Solana has been a tremendous help the whole time. Her scouting is invaluable and allows me to prepare carefully for every single encounter. Only once did a green marking turn out to be a red one. But Salandit managed to protect me from a sudden ambush from below, thanks to Protect.

Another group of profiteers moved into the mines yesterday evening. They are working in groups of two trainers and three pokemon each. They clear out all the upper tunnels with the diligence and precision only a large group of people can make.

Soon, nothing will be left to capture, and the mines can resume working.

Currently, the upper, easier levels aren't profitable enough anymore. But my team is amazing, so we can delve deeper and faster than they can.

Overall, the profits I have already made are insane. And the profits that still await me send shivers down my spine.

The shivers have nothing to do with Solana's cooking. She looks at me disappointedly after I took another bite. "Your food is actually rather tasty. Thanks for bringing it all the way down."

"Don't mention it." But her smile grows despite it. "You're paying me after all. Wink." She says the wink part out loud because her eyes are covered.

She wears part of her scouting equipment: A black overall, including black boot covers. Her forehead and eyes are covered by an adjustable set of night-vision goggles. She also has a black ski mask ready to cover her face. She removed it to be able to speak better.

"By the way, you should turn the flashlight even dimmer when you go deeper." She points at the impressive piece of technology by my side.

After finding out that the light level of the flashlight is adjustable, I set it to its lowest setting so we could ambush the Diglett better. I tried blinding a group with it before, but it ended up blinding us as well, so I gave that strategy up.

"The next couple of tunnels are all way too dangerous to fight it solo." ... "Wink."

"Good grief." I say.

"I see that grin on your face. My goggles are better than you think."

After wiping the smirk off my face, I speak up again. "Does it get easier further down?"

"Correct. You're reaching the end of the old coal mines. The Diglett above this layer find enough food in the leftover iron deposits. The Diglett below eat the miner's equipment and presumably the miners themselves, who have disappeared while at work--"

"Wait, what? People have disappeared? I never heard of that."

"You haven't? I probably wasn't supposed to tell you then... It was a team of eight workers. They wanted to use explosives to gain access to a deeper coal layer. The last communication that reached their headquarters was about an underground tremor... and then silence."

Are they hiding that information? What the hell? Why haven't I heard of that before? That's the kind of stuff Nurse Joy should have told me before I signed up!

Not that it would have changed my decision. There is way too much money on the line.

Am I too greedy? Will greed be my downfall? ... No way. We're prepared for any fight.

"Did you figure out what happened to them yet?"

"No. The area below is becoming too dangerous to progress quickly. Anyway, do you have some pokeballs for me to bring up? I need to get going. The other trainers are waiting for my skilled labor, hehehe."

I hand her another set of 10 pokeballs. Another 9.000₽ profit after subtracting all my costs. "You're working for the others too?"

Her mouth opens in shock. "... How are you doing that? ... Stop doing that!" She shouts. "I'm leaving now. I won't let you pull another secret out of my mouth!"

"Haha, don't worry. As long as they don't harm my bottom line, you can make all the deals in the world with them."

"Good! Good. Anyway, you got the supplies you ordered, your food, and I received the pokeballs. Later, I will transfer your part of the profits. Bye!"

"See ya later."

And then she heads off. My eyes move away from looking at her butt once she is out of the range of my flashlight.

I look at the track leading deeper into the mines.

Complete darkness is ahead of me. Everything past the flashlight's shine is gone. A pitch-black abyss, so to speak, swallowing up my light.

Nobody else is further down. Nothing but corpses and enemies, perhaps.

Adventure, profits... Risk. Danger. It's exactly what I wanted.

One last look behind. The girls are about to start their contest soon.

I shut off the light completely. The shadows swallow us up whole. 

I have nothing to be afraid of in the dark. With my aura sight, I can almost feel as much as I could see with the flashlight on its lowest setting.

"Can you see anything, Lopunny?"

~"No. Nothing. But I can still hear well."

"Okay, hold on to my hand while we go deeper."

Her furry hand searches through the darkness, finds my arm, and then moves to my own hand, which she holds on to.

"Salandit, what about you?"

~"I can sssee fine." She says. I look at her on my shoulder and see her eyes glow in the dark like two purple orbs. Then her back lights up and bathes us in warm, orange light. ~"I can do this too."

The low-intensity, slowly changing light coming from my shoulder is perfect to keep me from going blind too.

"Good. We can use that instead of the flashlight. Maybe it won't attract as much attention, but keep it off for now. Riolu, can you be the forward scout? But let's keep each other in our aura sight. We can cover more ground that way."

~"Understood."

"Okay. Let's go."

---

Shit.

Dugtrio ahead. As well as three Diglett. The tunnel had a red X marked on it, meaning, these pokemon will not be afraid of fighting back or even attacking me. 

I skipped a few red and black tunnels before, but this is the final one that Solana managed to scout. The next tunnel doesn't have a marking. She didn't get any deeper than this yet. This is the easiest remaining battle; Everything else is either harder or of unknown difficulty.

The tally mark by Solana was off by one as well.

They outnumber us. None of them are asleep either.

It will be very difficult, so I pull back for a few bends of the tunnel to discuss strategy.

"We're swapping guard duties." I notify my team. "Salandit, Riolu, I want you both to guard me. Salandit, I trust you know how to fight from range without any of my input. Here, take these berries. You need to be in top shape."

She nods and swallows up a Leppa Berry whole before gulping down an Oran Berry in two bites. Lopunny and Riolu follow suit while I double-check their bodies for any wounds. 

It looks like I managed to cure all their damage after the previous battle.

"Lopunny, stick to Dugtrio like glue. If he manages to use Dig, assume he plans to attack me and come back to us immediately."

I feel her nod through my aura sight before she prepares for the fight with Defense Curl.

"Once I turn on the flashlight, I want you to run in and use Jump Kick. Salandit, you will surprise them with Poison Gas. And you use Ice Beam, Riolu."

Another round of nods.

I take a deep breath.

... I should plan an exit strategy as well. If they turn out to be too overwhelming, I will use the flashlight on full power, like a flash bang, and run away while returning the girls to their pokeballs. 

Unlikely to happen, but possible.

I have complete trust in my team. We won't need to run away. However, having an exit strategy doesn't hurt either.

Another deep breath. "This is it. This is the boss fight. We're going back up after this. Let's go."

There will be a huge reward after this.

We return to the soon-to-be battle site.

I still feel the enemies. They haven't moved. They are still hunched over something. Probably eating another piece of mining equipment. All of them are grouped up nicely.

Salandit prepares to spit a glob of poison on them. She knows exactly where they are thanks to her night vision.

Lopunny stands close to me, ready to engage the enemy as soon as I give her the green light. Or rather, as soon as I turn on the yellow light of the flashlight.

Riolu follows me between my legs. I had to get used to walking like that without stepping on her. She says she can cover more directions that way. It has become her preferred position to be in. 

Everyone is ready.

Now.

I turn on the flashlight and flood the tunnel with light.

A glob of poison arcs through the air at the same time.

Lopunny runs and prepares to use Jump Kick. Riolu readies Ice Beam by channeling the bright blue, glowing ice energy between her paws.

Dugtrio recognizes it as an ambush immediately and starts ordering his Diglett around; Just moments before Salandit's thick glob of viscous poison managed to reach them.

The blob hits the corpse they had surrounded and expands into a massive sphere of poisonous gas. As fast as they can, the pokemon scatter and run away from the corpse--

Corpse?

It's the corpse of one of the miners! And a bunch of other skeletons lie further in the back.

The horde of pokemon scatters all over the place to escape the cloud. Dugtrio escapes Salandit's attack, but does not manage to escape the range of Lopunny at the same time.

She jumps and aims for the wannabe-fugitive Dugtrio. However, he quickly dodges by using Dig. Her foot slams into the new hole and craters it.

It's already too late. Dugtrio escaped just in time, causing Lopunny to damage herself.

"Lopunny, come back! Riolu, hold Ice Beam! Salandit, get to the ground and be ready for him to pop out!"

I use aura to sense for the enemy while Salandit crawls down my body.

He's moving towards us underground.

The Diglett are on the move as well. They spread out on the surface to avoid being hit by AOEs again.

The ground shakes.

"Dugtrio is right below us. Get ready, Salandit... Now!"

The moment he pierces the hard rock, a transparent shield encases us, and he bounces his head uselessly against it.

"Riolu, now!"

She lets her Ice Beam loose. At the same time, I run away to create more distance. Lopunny comes down from another jump like a comet and smacks into Dugtrio with a well-placed Jump Kick.

Dugtrio is frozen in a block of ice.

Salandit prepares another move. Will-O-Wisp, I presume. She clings to my leg while I run away, while Riolu follows us closely.

I dip my head under a Mud-Slap that was aimed at my face. The Diglett are relentless in their hunt. 

"Lopunny! Take care of the Diglett to your left! Quick Attack!"

Dugtrio can wait. He's still frozen.

"Riolu--"

~"From below!"

Shit! She's right! I lost track of that Diglett.

"Riolu, prepare to use Protect! Salandit, change your target to this one!"

Another Diglett rears his ugly head beneath my feet and rams against Riolu's shield. Will-O-Wisp flies out and hits it immediately after the shield disappears.

I give his dome a kick for good measure before running off again and looking around.

One Diglett has been downed by Lopunny. She is already engaged in combat with another one.

Dugtrio is still frozen solid.

One is over there, shaking his head in pain and coughing his lungs out because of the poison and burn effects.

The last Diglett is--

Gong

"Fuck! Shit that hurt!"

It's Arena Trap. I can't run away from Dugtrio because of his ability! There is an invisible wall in the way!

"Riolu, where is the last Diglett?!"

~"On the ceiling!"

I dodged another Mud-Slap at the last second. The little pest is up there and throws down her attacks on us.

The sound of fracturing glass wrestles my attention away from the remaining few Diglett and back to Dugtrio.

"Lopunny! Change to Dugtrio!"

With a shattering noise, Dugtrio breaks free and rejoins the battle. With great speed, he slides over the ground and intercepts Lopunny with Sucker Punch.

"Salandit, take care of the one on the ceiling! Use Fake Out!"

She scales up my body, jumps the rest of the distance to the ceiling, and runs from there to her target.

Suddenly, another piece of mud flies at us from my blind angle. Riolu jumps in its path in the nick of time and tanks the hit for me.

I'm losing the overview in the chaos. Lopunny fights Dugtrio in close combat. 

One Diglett is still down.

Riolu has my back covered against the poisoned and burned Diglett.

A hail of Ember shoots out from Salandit's mouth and hits her target; A few hit Dugtrio. Some managed to hit Lopunny, who was too distracted to notice the attack.

"Salandit! Keep that one occupied and use..." Fuck! What's best? "Scratch!"

Shit! I can't think! It's too much going on!

Lopunny runs towards me again. 

I use aura sight to see Dugtrio right below me again. To the best of my abilities, I try to dodge him. When he pops out of the ground, he still clips my foot. I clench my jaw shut as I feel unimaginable pain traveling up my entire body.

Riolu fires off another Ice Beam at him, but he dodges by sliding to the side. Lopunny slams into him with Quick Attack and follows up with Double Hit and Pound, slamming her arms and then her ears into her target.

After struggling back to my feet, I run away again. This time back towards the corpses of the miners. The way out is blocked by Arena Trap.

I pass two downed Diglett on my way. One has passed out from the poison and burn, the other from Lopunny's quick and powerful attacks.

My sight travels up to the ceiling, where Salandit scratches and claws Diglett, who does the same in return. Diglett uses Scratch too, somehow.

Salandit even resorts to biting her opponent-- Huh!? It's so strong! Was that Poison Fang?

Salandit wins. The third Diglett is KO, and only Dugtrio remains--

Dugtrio is KO.

Never mind. Just as I thought about the next order to give, his eyes turned to swirls after Riolu struck him with an Aura Sphere from behind.

One, two, three Diglett. And one Dugtrio.

All KO.

"Good fucking job!" I scream as loud as I can before letting myself plop down on the ground.

Fuck me, my leg hurts like hell. "Haha. We won! Hahaha!"

But this was it. I'm not fighting another group down here. Maybe I can join the cleanup crew further up the main tunnel, but I'm done with the Solo mission. Heh. Made some good money too.

My breaths come out raggedly. My vision is slightly blurry. That was so exhausting.

Maybe I will get a special reward for recovering the miner's corpses? "Haha..."

From the corners of my eyes, I see the girls checking their surroundings for more enemies before rushing to me.

~"Master! Are you alright? Did he hit your squishy bits?!" Lopunny arrives first, slams into me, hugs me, and inspects me for wounds. ~"I'm so sorry! He was faster than me underground!"

I stroke the back of her head to calm her and myself down. This was a lot more stressful than I expected it to be. Keeping track of two enemy pokemon is alright, but three or more is just impossible.

Next time I need to do that, I will target the weakest links first to reduce the complexity of the battle.

~"Daddy! Please forgive me! I couldn't get in the way in time!" 

Riolu joins the pile, and I rub my other hand over her body.

~"I knew my mate wass going to be fine." Salandit arrived last after scaling down the wall. I have to pick her up and move her into the cuddle pile myself.

Lazy lizard.

~"By the way." She says as I scratch her behind her growths on her neck. ~"What's that sstuff ssparkling in the dark over there?"

I dropped my flashlight after the fight, and it points towards the exit. In the other direction, there is a red, sparkling something in the dark.

Riolu sniffs at the air. ~"Smells like fire."

Indeed. It seems to be some kind of a burning something. It appears to be moving across the ground too. 

Weird.

Did Salandit set something on fire by accident when she used Ember?

Some kind of equipment that these miners had with them, perhaps?

Lopunny's ears twitch in my hands as I rub them. ~"The sound it makes. I think I heard it before. One of these cartoons we watched in a hostel, I think."

Hm. It does sound a little like a cartoonishly exaggerated version of a TNT fuse.

It was a team of eight workers. They wanted to use explosives to gain access to a deeper coal layer.

I cease all relaxation. I pick up the flashlight and point at it.

It's a fucking lit fuse!

The moment I realized what it was, the sparkling end of the fuse moved down a hole that had been drilled in the ground.

"Run!"

But it's too late.

The shockwave of an explosion rips through my body. I feel it push the air out of my lungs.

The ground loosens. I sink into a bed of gravel and shattered stones.

Another shockwave hits me. It throws a layer of rocks and dust on top of us.

It feels like I'm free-falling. The ground has loosened tremendously, to the point where it's like we're falling through it. Loose rocks, gases from the explosives, dust, and air.

I close my eyes and hold on tight to my pokemon.

We're going to be buried alive. The one possible way to die in this broken universe.

"I love you!" I shout at the top of my lungs before it's too late. I'm left in a coughing fit afterwards. Rock dust already clogs up my throat.

I keep falling.

Am I dead already? All around me is pure chaos. The rocks are falling at the same speed as I am. Some smack against me, but none smash me into paste. Is this what the afterlife is? Just your final moments on repeat forever?

Wait, I see light! Oh no. It's the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm really dying, aren't I? Fuck.

I don't want to be dead!

Suddenly, Lopunny grabs me and throws me as hard as she can. I feel rocks and debris slamming against my face as I pierce the hail of rocks, and then light--

I'm in a free fall!

There is a glowing, crystal-covered ceiling a dozen meters above me. An enormous rockslide is behind me. Lopunny managed to throw me out of it.

Hundreds of meters below me is a seemingly different world. 

The earth is hollow.